This invention relates to a recording system for tracking personal activities during a specified time interval on a specific day.
Modern technology has produced both devices that save time and devices that demand more of our time. The computer has increased productivity by reducing the amount time to create documents, analyze data, and to communicate work product to others via vast networks. The Internet and spread of wireless technologies has made it possible for individuals separated by vast distances to stay “connected.” Whatever time savings technology may have conferred have seemingly been lost due to the increased demands that flow from being accessible at any time from anywhere on the planet.
Managing time has thus become an import part of modern life. Time management tools may be designed to keep track of how time has been committed and/or to keep track of how time was actually used. Examples of time-commitment systems include electronic calendars and day planners. Time-spent systems can be viewed as electronic diaries or journals. What these systems have in common is that data is primarily entered in textual form. The data entry process is thus time consuming and the data in free form that is not easily analyzed or represented analytically. This raises the question of whether the data collected using the time management tool has sufficient value to justify the time spent acquiring the collected data.
To the extent that currently available time management tools capture time usage, they do not provide for goal/target setting and performance monitoring and do not server as goal and life planning/management tools.
To manage time effectively, it is important to quantify the time increments spent performing specific tasks. The quantification of time usage facilitates analysis of time usage, the evaluation of particular tasks, and the allocation of resources. Gathering these data cannot, however, become a significant task in its own right.
What would be useful, therefore, is a system for recording details of specific groups of activities in very short intervals, including interruptions or distractions. Additionally, it would be desirable to associate specific groups and categories of activities with files, text, attributes or numerical values. More over, the system for the activity details should be recorded in a form that allows for analysis, decision making, and aggregation of data.